Labour's rule in Scotland is over

Labour's rule in Scotland is over. The SNP have won the Scottish parliamentary election. They have returned 47 seats against 46 for the Scottish Labour Party. Gordon Brown's worst nightmare has has become a reality. The SNP have become the first party in 50 years to win a majority of seats and a majority of votes in any Scottish general election.

The chancellor said earlier this week that he "could not work" with the SNP leader, Alex Salmond. Well, now he will have to eat his words. It is inconceivable that the future Prime Minister of Britain would refuse to speak to the leader of the largest party in Holyrood

However, Salmond is not first minister yet - not by a long way. He has a majority of only one seat, and by an extraordinary irony, Salmond's political enemy, the former SNP MP, Margo MacDonald, has been returned as an independent in Lothian. She could theoretically hold the balance of power.

But it is hard to exaggerate the significance of this result. After one of the most hostile press campaigns in Scottish political history, the SNP has prevailed. It has persuaded a majority of Scots to set aside their reservations and give the nationalists a foothold in power.

Read more about the May 3 elections in Scotland, Wales and England here